DR1 Travel News - 13 June 2017

Scot follows Beyonce and travels to the DR
Beyonce and Jay Z have openly spoken of how much they enjoy vacationing in the Dominican Republic. The testimony is motivating others to check out the Punta Cana beach destination.

Tourist numbers up
According to a report published by the Central Bank, the arrival of tourists to the country increased by 6.7% between January and May of this year, reaching a historic level of 2,696,014 passengers into airports, which is 169,450 more than during the same period of 2016.

According to the data, in May there were 472,888 non-resident air arrivals, both foreign and Dominican for a 35,550 increase over travel in May 2016.

The non-resident foreigners segment increased by 9.7% in May over the previous year that compensated for a 1.4% decrease in non-resident Dominican air arrivals.

Overall the non-resident segment increased between January and May from North American by 4.5%, Europe travel was up by 21.5%, Central American and the Caribbean travel was up by 16.6%. There was a decline of 2.4% in travel from Venezuela and Brazil.

SDQ Gastronómico food festival
Santo Domingo is hosting the SDQ Gastronomico 2017, a 19-day food festival to show case the diversity of the national cuisine. The event also celebrates the declaring of Santo Domingo as the Gastronomic Capital of the Caribbean by the Academia Iberoamericana de Gastronomia and the La Real Academia Espanola de Gastronomia. The event is open to the general public from 13 June to 1 July.

Level starts flights from BCN to PUJ
Level began its first bi-weekly low cost flights from Barcelona to Punta Cana. Flights depart El Prat International in Barcelona (BCN) arriving non-stop to Punta Cana International (PUJ). The airline is flying new Airbus A330-200 airplanes, with capacity for 314 passengers. Departures are Wednesdays and Saturdays from Barcelona to Punta Cana.